Pupils win “pocket garden” design competition

Laura Sturrock

Three local schools have won the nationwide Design a One Planet Picnic Pocket Garden Competition.

Pupils from Douglas Academy, Baljaffray Primary School and St Joseph’s Primary School excelled at the brief which asked them to design a colourful and exciting pallet or pocket sized garden which included plants for humans, plants for wildlife and which represented Scotland’s history and heritage.

Douglas Academy’s design Caledonia, inspired by the song, a passion for music and Scotland’s plants and wildlife, cleverly weaves together our natural and musical heritage.

Baljaffray Primary took inspiration from Scottish design heritage and features a Charles Rennie Mackintosh rose as the centerpiece of their design while St Joseph’s Primary School designed In a Dinner Lady’s Hat.

The winning schools, selected by members of the Garden for Life Forum, will now go on to plant and grow their winning designs which will form the Living Garden feature at the Gardening Scotland exhibition this June.

The Eco-Schools programme is operated internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and delivered in Scotland by Keep Scotland Beautiful.

Eve Keepax, Food and Environment Officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “We have been so excited by the diversity of ideas in how young people have interpreted the three themes of One Planet Picnic, wildlife gardening, and the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology as well as how many young people have taken part. “It was fantastic to hear from schools how much they enjoyed entering the competition - discussing ideas, celebrating their heritage and planning to grow food for themselves and wildlife and doing it all sustainably! “There was so much inventiveness, honesty and humour in the designs it has been joyful to see them, and I hope that this joyfulness will translate from the designs into The Living Garden.”

The One Planet Picnic Pocket Garden Competition attracted 300 entries. In total 27 winners from 24 schools across 16 local authority areas were selected for their innovative and deliverable designs. Three final winners will be selected on June 2 from the 27 on display in the Living Garden.

Visit: www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/pocketgarden for more information.

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